Cholesterol find linked to better heart treatment

A DISCOVERY showing how the immune system reduces cholesterol levels could lead to improved heart treatments.

High levels of cholesterol can lead to narrowed arteries and heart disease. But the fatty substance also contributes to vital body functions such as making cell membranes.

Widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins block the good effects as well as the bad.

Now scientists have learned the body has its own way of keeping cholesterol in check, via the immune system.

Cholesterol levels are suppressed as part of the process that fights off viral infections.

Drugs that mimic the natural mechanism could be as effective as statins while avoiding their side effects.

Researcher Dr Steven Watterson, of Edinburgh University, said: “Developing treatments that mimic the body’s natural methods of managing cholesterol could be more targeted and have few side effects compared with conventional treatments.”